Invitation Long Overdue
by dietcocacola101
Summary: Raven asks Murphy for help guarding Finn with an ulterior motive, but isn't as okay with it as she would like to be.


Raven is in a hurry and fucking Murphy is nowhere to be found. Murphy, who is always glaring and lurking in the background of every room she enters and who seems to _live_ in her peripheral vision, is a ghost the one time she actually _wants_ to see him. Typical.

She finds him in the mess hall once it occurs to her that it is midday and people who don't have to protect the only family they have left from torture and death are likely eating lunch. He is eating alone, all the better for what she's about to ask of him.

Murphy looks surprised when she plops down across from him and immediately covers his surprise with a smirk, but not quick enough that she doesn't notice it.

"I see you've been sprung," he comments dryly and for a moment she is confused; then, she remembers the short time she spent in lock-up last night for defending Finn. Raven chooses to ignore this.

Murphy nudges his cup towards her in what could only be interpreted as a pathetic gesture at friendship. "Want some? The food is bad, but you don't notice as much if you're drunk."

"I didn't come here to be besties with you, Murphy," Raven snaps, her nerves already nearly at a breaking point.

"Why _are_ you here?" he asks.

Raven sighs and leans forward so he can hear her hushed tone better. Intrigued, Murphy leans forward a bit as well.

"I think Abby is going to let the Grounders have Finn," she explains, silently cursing herself for failing to keep the panic out of her voice. "Bellamy, Clarke, and I are going to hide him at the dropship and figure out a plan from there. I was hoping you'd come along to help guard him."

Murphy considers this for a few moments. His last encounter with Clarke still left a bad taste in his mouth, but he reminds himself there will be others there who will possibly defend him – Bellamy, who has recently given him forgiveness, and Raven, who is here now, and Finn, who had always been a friend to him. He sees this as an opportunity to be useful to them, so he takes it.

Meanwhile, Raven is sure he will decline and is shocked when he doesn't. She had been so sure that he would somehow be able to sniff out her secret plan to sacrifice him in Finn's place, but she had to try, anyway. She owes Finn that much.

"Okay, great," she says, and her eyes flicker to his cup of booze. "You'll need to be sober for this."

"Relax, I'll be fine. I just sat down."

Raven stands, ready to leave. "We're leaving in five minutes. Grab your gun and follow behind us." She pauses, then adds, "Thanks, Murphy."

"Sure," he says, "I want to help Finn, if I can."

She fully intends to leave now, but his last comment catches her attention. She knows why _she_ wants to save Finn, but why does Murphy? What is Finn to Murphy?

"I didn't know you two were friends," she comments. "The only time I remember you two hanging out is when you let him slaughter a village full of people."

Murphy visibly flinches at this and Raven silently despairs when she feels bad.

"He's always treated me good, okay? He gave me a knife when I was banished and helped me out after Bellamy hung me. Finn never needed a reason to be nice to me. And I _tried_ to stop him at the village, goddamn it."

Raven can picture Finn in her mind's eye helping others at every chance, even those like John Murphy who probably don't deserve it. _That's_ who Finn is, not whatever PTSD-induced panic that had pushed him to kill eighteen innocents. Tears spring to her eyes when she thinks of him tenderly and turns her head away so Murphy can't see.

"He means a lot to me, too. He's _family._ "

She wishes there was a stronger word for what Finn is to her. It's true that she considers him family, but he also saved her life. She had nobody growing up, except for Finn. She _won't_ lose him.

Raven fingers the raven around her neck for a moment. She turns to Murphy and says, "Just be there. All I need is an extra gun – don't think this makes us friends."

Murphy grimaces and tries to pass it off as a smirk.

"I'm good for that at least."

Raven leaves him there and rushes to wherever Finn is, but not nearly as fast as she hopes, thanks to her leg. Thanks to _Murphy._ She tries to convince herself that he deserves to suffer and die in Finn's place, but can't help but think that while all of her people are against her and Finn, Murphy is one of the few that is on their side.


End file.
